Air distributing nozzle for railway cars



NOV. 21, 1933. w J MADDEN 1,935,647

AIR DISTRIBUTING NOZZLE FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Dec. I 1'7, 1932 -WITNESSES.- INVENTOR:

Wi li-m1 Jmddan ATTORNEYS.

Patented Nov. 21, 1933 1,935,647 BHSTRIBUTIENGCEggZLE FOR RAILWAY William J. Madden, Lansdowne, Pa.

Application December 17, 1932. Serial No. 647,724

Claims.

This invention relates to air distributing nozzles for railway cars, and more particularly to the combination with a railroad car of apparatus, including an air distributing nozzle, operable to 5 exhaust air from the interior of the car and to replace such exhausted air with freshly conditioned air taken from the exterior of the\car. While capable of a number of different uses, the nozzle of this invention is especially adapted to 9 the pre-cooling of passenger cars preparatory to their departure from a station.

In my pending application for U. S. Letters Patent, Serial No. 527,404, filed April 3, 1931, I

have shown and described one form of precooling unit for railway passenger cars wherein a portable bag-gage truck is utilized to carry an air cooling chamber, and wherein flexible ducts are utilized to connect the cooling chamber with the interior of the car and to establish therewith a closed circulatory system. With the use-of portable pre-' cooling units of this nature it often occurs that only a brief period is available, before the departure of a train, in which the cooling operation must take place. Hence it is important that the apparatus be designed for ready attachment and detachment with relation to the car. It is also of prime importance that the circulation of freshly conditioned air through the car be such as to exhaust therefrom, in the shortest possible time, substantially all of the warm air which is present in the passenger space of the car. At the end corners of the car passenger space, at the sides thereof, and at other locations, pockets are formed with so-called dead air not afiected by ordinary circulation of air through the car.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a means of producing turbulence within the interior of the car in order to stir up the dead air so that it becomes entrained or commingled with the incoming conditioned air, and thus to increase the efliciency of the apparatus and to reduce the period of time required for the conditioning operation.

Other more specific objects and advantages characteristic of my invention will become more fully apparent from the description hereinafter of one embodiment or example of the practice of the invention, the description having reference to the accompanying drawing. Of the drawins:

Fig. I represents a horizontal cross section of the passenger space of a railway car together with a diagrammatic plan view of air conditioning apparatus connected to the side windows of the car; and,

Fig. E represents an enlarged cross section of the same, taken as indicated by the lines IIII of Fig. I, showing the details of the air distributing nozzle projecting into the interior of the car, which characterizes my invention.

With reference to Fig. I of the drawing, there is shown, as an example of the adaptation of my invention to a railway car, an exterior portable cooling chamber 1 having a flexible intake duct 2 and discharge duct 3 connected to the side windows of a Pullman car A. While the particular form of exterior cooling apparatus is not material to my invention and is therefore diagrammatically illustrated, I have shown an arrangement wherein air is exhausted from near one end of the car and carried through the suction duct 2 to the cooling unit 1, and from thence discharged through the discharge duct 3 into a window 5 located several window spaces from the window to which the suction connection is made and in a 7 direction toward the'other end of the car, thus establishing a closed circulatory system.

The discharge duct 3, as clearly shown in Fig. II, terminates in an elbow 6 projecting through the window 5 and having at its extreme end a 30 restricted orifice 7. For the purpose of maintaining the elbow 6 of the discharge-duct 3 in place at the car window 5, I prefer to utilize an extensible frame 8 forming a part-of the discharge duct and fitting between the sill 9 of the window and the lower edge of the sash frame 10, though of course it is contemplated that other means may be employed for maintaining the discharge duct in place.

a continuation of the discharge duct 3, there is provided within the interior of the car a distributing nozzle 11 which extends transversely of the car from the window 5 to near the center line and there terminates in a rotatable elbow 12 directed downward and along the aisle of the car. In the present example of my invention wherein a Pullman car is selected for illustration, the distributing nozzle 11 is conveniently supported at one end by the window sill 9 and at the other end by the arm 14 of a car seat 15. To prevent dislodgment of the distributing'nozzle a bracket 16 may be mounted thereon for engagement with the arm 14 of the car seat 15. The distributing nozzle at its intake end near the car window is provided with a funnel a circular cross section gradually reducing in area towards the discharge end. The discharge elbow 12 of the distributing nozzle is preferably made a separate part adjustably secured to the end of the nozzle by screws 18.

It will be particularly noted that the distributing nozzle 11 is arranged in concentric relation with the end of the discharge elbow 6 and spaced therefrom to afford an opening 19 through which air at the side of thecar maybe induced by the jetv issuing from the restricted orifice '7.

As the incoming air is caused to flow into the distributing nozzle 11 at a relatively high velocity, there is induced through the opening 19 a current of air from the side of the car at a point where there is ordinarily dead air. Moreover, the turbulence effected by the movement of this current of air serves to stir up various air currents, apart from those produced by the discharge of conditioned air down the aisle of the car. This turbulence materially assists the air movement through thecar.

It will also be noted that the discharge elbow 12 of the distributing nozzle 11 is projected toward the end of the car which is most remote from the suction duct 2. a This arrangement prevents incoming conditioned air from passing directly down the aisle of the car to the suction duct 2, and occasions instead a distribution and stirring up of the incoming freshly conditioned air, causing it to spread in such manner as to occupy substantially the whole cross section of the car. Thereupon the gradual movement of this body of air from one end toward the other end of the car causes substantially all of the warm air to be swept along and discharged from the car through the suction duct 2.

Accordingly, the special form of distributing nozzle of my invention serves to materially increase the efficiency of the cooling unit and to shorten the period required for changing the temperature of the air to the desired degree. This end I accomplish by a comparatively simple and inexpensive instrumentality and one which can be applied and removed with ease and facility. While I have described one example of my invention and have referred to the specific form of the constituent elements thereof, it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form of the apparatus herein described and illustrated without departing from the spirit of my invention as defined in the annexed claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim: 1. In combination with a railway car air conditioned by external means, a discharge duct leading from said external air conditioning means to an opening in the side of the car, a distributing nozzle forming a continuation of said discharge duct and leading from the side of the car to near the center line thereof and there directed toward one end of the car, said distributing nozzle surrounding the end of said discharge duct and being spaced therefrom to afford an opening through which air at the side of the 'car is induced, thereby producing turbulence within the car and assisting air movement therethrough.

2. In combination with a railway car air conditioned by external means, a discharge duct leading from said external air conditioning means to an opening in the side of the car and there terminating in a restricted orifice, a distributing nozzle forming a continuation of said discharge duct and leading from the side of the car to near the center line thereof and there discharging toward one end Of the car, said distributing nozzle surrounding the end of said discharge duct at said restricted orifice and being spaced therefrom to afford an opening through which air at the side of the "car is induced by the jet issuing from said restricted orifice, thereby producing turbulence within the car and assisting air movement therethrough.

3. In combination with a railway car air conditioned by external means, a discharge duct leading from said external air conditioning means to an opening in the side of the car and there terminating in a restricted orifice, a distributing nozzle forming a continuation of said discharge duct and leading from the side of the car to near the center line thereof and there discharging toward one end of the car, said distributing nozzle surrounding the end of said discharge duct at said restricted orifice and being spaced therefrom to afford an opening through which air at'the side of the car is induced by the jet issuing from said restricted orifice, thereby producing turbulence within the car and assisting air movement therethrough, and said nozzle having a substantially circular cross section gradually reducing in area towards its discharge end.

4. In combination with a railway car air conditionedby external means, a discharge duct leading from said external air conditioning means to an opening in the side of the car, a distributing nozzle forming a continuation 01' said discharge duct and leading transversely from the side of the car to near the center line thereof and there directed downward and towards one end of the car, said distributing .nozzle being concentric with the end of the discharge duct and spaced therefrom to afford an opening through which air at the side of the car is induced, thereby producing turbulence within the car and assisting air movement therethrough.

5. In combination with a railway passenger car air conditioned by external means, a discharge duct leading from said external air conditioning means to a window at the side of the car, a distributing nozzle forming a continuation of said discharge duct and leading to the center aisle of 120 the car and there discharging along the aisle, said distributing nozzle surrounding the end of said discharge duct and being spaced therefrom to afford an opening through which air at the side of the car is induced, thereby producing turbu- 125 lence within the car and assisting air movement therethrough.

6. In combination with a railway passenger car air conditioned by external means, a suction duct leading from a window at the side of thecar to 130 the external air conditioning means, a discharge duct leading from the external air conditioning means to a window at the side of the car, a distributing nozzle forming a continuation of said discharge duct and leading to the center aisle of 135 the car and there discharging toward the end of the car which is remote from said suction duct, said distributing nozzle surrounding the end of said discharge duct and being spaced therefrom to. afiord an opening through which air at the 40 side of the car is induced, thereby producing turbulence within the car and assisting air movement therethrough.

7. In combination with a railway passenger car air conditioned by external means, a discharge duct leading from said external air conditioning means to a window at the side of the car, a distributing nozzle forming a continuation of said discharge duct and having one end thereof supported at the car window and the other end sup-- 5a ported on the arm of a car seat and dischargin down the aisle, said distributing nozzle surrounding the end of said discharge duct and being spaced therefrom to afford an opening through which air at the side of the car is induced, thereby producing turbulence within the car and assisting air movement therethrough.

8. In combination with a railway car air conditioned by external means, a discharge duct leading from said external air conditioning means to an opening in the side of the car and there terminating in a restricted orifice, a distributing nozzle forming a continuation of said discharge duct and leading from the side of the car to near the center line thereof and there discharging toward meanstoanopeningintheside of them, a

distributing nome forming a continuation of said discharge duct and leading from the side of the car to near the center line thereof, said distributing nozzle surounding the end of said discharge duct and being spaced therefrom to aiford an opening through which air at the side of the car is induced, and a rotatable elbow at the end of said distributing nozzle.

10. In combination with a railway passenger car, air conditioned by external means, a discharge duct leading from said external air conditioning means to an opening in the side of the car, a distributing nozzle forming a continuation of said discharge duct and leading from the side of the car to the center aisle thereof, said distributing nozzle surrounding the end of said discharge duct and being spaced therefrom to ail'ord an opening through which air is induced .and said nozzle projecting a column of air at high velocity along the floor of the car to penetrate the regions at the extreme end of the car.

WILLIAM J. MADDEN. 

